business matters


“There is a huge amount going on at the moment and sometimes it feels like there are not enough hours in the day”


David Parlby Chief Executive Plymouth Chamber of Commerce & Industry


There has been a significant growth in Chamber membership in recent months, rising from around 750 in October last year to 930 in February this year.


“We have refined and improved our approach to membership recruitment and retention which has certainly been successful and helped us to buck the national trend of falling Chamber membership,” said David.


Part of the growth was due to Maritime Plymouth becoming a special interest group within the Chamber, but he pointed out that 40 new members had also been recruited in January alone.


“Every single industry sector is represented in the Chamber and every size of business is catered for, from one-man bands to large employers. There has been


a perception that we only cater for big companies, but the majority of our members employ less than 20 people,” he added.


He said that there were significant benefits for businesses which join the Chamber - whether they are established companies or sole traders just starting out in busi- ness.


“One of the most significant benefits is the ability to create a presence among the business community through our extensive range of networking events. We organise around 100 different networking events in the course of a year which


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the plymouth magazine 11


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